Hermiston Lab

A defunct mining laboratory in Hermiston, Oregon, was identified by local authorities and the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality (ODEQ) as potentially posing a threat to a dairy distribution center located adjacent to the laboratory in the same building at 81156 N. Highway 395, Hermiston, Oregon. The Hermiston Fire Department (HFD) hazardous materials unit conducted a brief survey of the site and observed mercury, mercury oxide, sodium metal (immersed in oil in a plastic pitcher). Initial reports indicated the site also contained 800 pounds of potassium cyanide pellets in drums, eight 55-gallon drums of acid waste, sixteen five-gallon buckets of acid sludge, twenty 1-gallon jugs of hydrochloric acid, thirty 1-gallon jugs of sulfuric acid, and hundreds of miscellaneous bottles each containing up to 2 pounds of chemicals.